The Delving Bard (World of Chains Book 5)

  The Delving Bard

  World of Chains, Book 5

  By Lars Machmüller

  Copyright © 2022 by Lars Machmüller

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Cover by William Blake

  Summary of Books 1-4 in the World of Chains

  Chapter 1 - Great Day

  Chapter 2 – Falling Skies

  Chapter 3 – Figure It Out

  Chapter 4 – That Just Happened

  Chapter 5 – Where Your Secrets Hide

  Chapter 6 – Where The Heart Is

  Chapter 7 – Pathways

  Chapter 8 – Unearthing The Past

  Chapter 9 – Take Me To Your Leader

  Chapter 10 – Going Under

  Chapter 11 – The Sound Of Silence

  Chapter 12 - Meet The Creeper

  Chapter 13 - Rats In The Cellar

  Chapter 14 - Dark Streets

  Chapter 15 - Between The Sheets

  Chapter 16 - Drowning In The Waves

  Chapter 17 - Party Rock Anthem

  Chapter 18 - In The End

  Chapter 19 – Repetition

  Chapter 20 – Life Choice

  Chapter 21 – So Messed Up

  Chapter 22 – Talk It Out

  Chapter 23 – Make It Make Sense

  Chapter 24 – Getting Somewhere

  Chapter 25 - Row Row

  Chapter 26 – Leader Of The Pack

  Chapter 27 - Prophets Of Loss

  Chapter 28 – The Final Countdown

  Chapter 29 – Departures

  Chapter 30 - Into the Darkness

  Chapter 31 - Seek And... Destroy?

  Chapter 32 – Hidden

  Chapter 33 – What Lies Below

  Chapter 34 - Facing The Beast

  Chapter 35 – Finish What Ya Started

  Chapter 36 – End Of The Line

  Appreciations

  Character Sheets

  Active Quests at the End of The Delving Bard

  Character Overview

  Glossary

  Summary of Books 1-4 in the World of Chains

  Long story short: It was supposed to be my shortcut to easy money and an early retirement in the Bahamas. Things did not go as planned.

  The longer version? Well, notorious criminal Mr. Romanovich figured out what I was up to and that I planned to lie low in the World of Chains, hyper-realistic fancy VR-MMO. At first, that wasn’t an issue. I didn't start out in the center of society, but right in the middle of nowhere, with a population count of three hundred and a banjo. “Grant's Crossing” they called it—a speed bump in the middle of a danger-filled forest. I hated it at first, but with time, I learned that the bumpkins were actually good people. I found other like-minded people who joined me on my forays to keep the village safe and boredom at bay. Lyle—my trusty meatshield with too much of a conscience—had my back, while Chertog, a dwarven Chronicler, taught me all about horrible puns. My drunken bard teacher, Greck, also taught me a few things, I guess. Mostly, he loved being a nuisance. Oh, and Naevys. That lovely hippie elf who shared my love for music. In return, I helped them with a long quest chain and figured out that the otherwise thrifty people were being held down by the depredations of a nasty demonologist and his henchmen. As a reward, I became the village bard.

  Of course, that was all too good to be true. A visiting caravan carried one very annoying item—a wanted poster of yours truly. Apparently, the mobsters were trying to find me. Initially, I also believed that one of the caravan guards—some elven broad named Sareena—was after me, but I discovered that she really just wanted to know how much the village knew about Othell and the group he was with. In the end, I failed the quest to figure out what else she was up to, but it seemed like she was going to let it go. Live and let live, right?

  The heat was a bit too much for me, however. I used a Council quest as the perfect excuse to get out of the village for a couple of weeks, so as not to be spotted. I had no intentions of discovering what the mobsters were going to do with me if they located me in-game. They were certain to grow bored at some point, right? So off we went: myself; Darya, a lovely loner playing a half-orc hunter; and Atlas, my new-found companion, part undersized Komodo dragon, part chameleon with the temper of a golden retriever. Our goal? Find the kobold city of Nerit and convince them that they should end hostilities and enter an alliance with Grant's Crossing, allowing our village to expand to the east.

  Nerit was not a nice place. Not only were they horrible xenophobes (which led to us almost getting killed before we even got there), they also had a thing for throwing people under the bus if they didn't toe the line. The Anathema of Nerit were outcasts, pariahs, and . . . pretty decent hosts, all things considered. Obviously, it didn't take me long to be labeled an outcast myself. In my defense, it really wasn't my fault this time.

  It did allow me to get to know the real Nerit—and it truly was a harsh society. Sure, those on top had it good, ruling the city and the outskirts with an iron fist. It was all done at the expense of the Anathema, however. I soon realized that I would need to climb the ranks in order to cement an alliance between Nerit and Grant's Crossing. I pulled out all stops. Bribes, diplomacy, blackmail, violence, silly ditties, and . . . more blackmail. Whatever worked, I used it—and I lucked out. After a few weeks of toil and danger, I completed the quest chain! I beat the competition, won the prize and ridiculed the High Priest—just like these things are supposed to happen! Was it flawless? No. But you can't make an omelet without creating a few mortal enemies. Heh.

  In the end, when we entered Grant's Crossing again, it was as victors. Oh, and with a kobold companion, Arack, and some sixty-odd additional kobold Anathema in tow, looking for a new home. Odds were that the situation wasn't going to settle down anytime soon, but I had eluded my hunters.

  Again, the reprieve turned out to be short lived. I did manage to enjoy myself in Grant’s Crossing for a bit, helping the Anathema find their place in the otherwise almost kobold-free village—but then the heat was on again. A new round of wanted posters and searchers made me realize I needed to get away from the village again. It wouldn’t be a permanent solution to my plight, but it would work for now—and we had the perfect goal.

  High Hold. It was the other place in the central area of Dawnlight Forest, and apparently the harpies there did not like visitors. Still, if Grant’s Crossing wanted to grow into a decent town and manage its original plan to become a trading power on the continent, we would need an agreement with High Hold—so off we went.

  The journey was great. The harpies only tried to kill us once, and we even found a treasure map along the way. When we got to know the place, it wasn’t too bad. They had a magic school and all. Of course, there was a long, long quest chain to earn their respect, but the tasks I had to fulfill to get there were fun—music, magic, and blackmail—it never got boring!

  Right when I was staring at the finish line, something happened. Somebody filched that treasure map I’d been looking forward to investigating, and I swore terrible vengeance. You don’t mess with a man’s side quests! Fortunately, right as I finished the quest chain and closed a good agreement with the powers of High Hold, we figured it out and caught the filthy thief who stole my map.

  Once we questioned the culprit, however, it all unraveled. The bad news just spilled out of him. First off, he was but a henchman. Second, the people he worked for had been abducting people in the Dawnlight Forest for years. Third, they were in the same group as Sar
eena—the elf who had been digging up dirt in the village. And finally . . . finally, they believed that Grant’s Crossing was a problem and would have to be destroyed.

  We sent some harpies back to the village in time to warn them. We failed to get there in time ourselves, however. When we did make it, it was only to help put out fires and bury the dead. Within the day, we were on the march for vengeance.

  We found the culprits in a Shard—a flying island, holding a half-ruined castle—in the middle of nowhere, and with a combined effort of Anathema from Nerit, harpies from High Hold and the forces from Grant’s Crossing, we defeated the villains. Everything was good and the forest would now be safe . . . except, we also discovered that the group, the Order of the Broken Earth, was a continent-wide force with nefarious purposes. But along the way, I had found my own personal salvation, in the form of the Shard—a way to travel the skies of Aeion, far from the sight of any searchers.

  Of course, that wasn’t meant to be. It would have been too simple, too easy. Turns out, Exogenics don’t just allow you to keep any flying property you come across, steal, or pirate. You get to either turn it in for a nice reward or jump through a ton of hoops to prove to the Rothian Republic that you’ve earned keeping it.

  That’s how I found myself with my trusted friends in the capital of all places, the Cradle of Hope, laying low and hiding from my hunters while I tried to earn the Shard to keep for myself.

  And I messed up. Oh boy, did I mess up. Not only did I manage to alert the mobsters to my presence, I also made enemies of one of the most powerful noble families of the realm. Well, two. Who’s counting, right? To be fair, the Goldtines probably wouldn’t be in any position to cause trouble for us, since I’d exposed their involvement in the Order of the Broken Earth.

  It wasn’t all bad, though. I did manage to secure the friendship of another noble family and abscond with the full rights to the Shard. So all told, we succeeded in our goal, albeit with a ton of potential trouble in the making. Oh, and I managed to kill Mr. Romanovich in-game. That probably wouldn’t tick him off at all…

  Chapter 1 - Great Day

  The warm afternoon breeze pushed my hair into my eyes as the sun caressed my skin. Before me, the horizon stretched endlessly. I made my seat recline a tad more and shuffled back with a relaxed sigh. This was life. If I'd known that this was going to be the result of my crime way back then? I'd definitely have gone through with it, risks or not.

  A voice intruded from below. "Really? That is what watch duty looks like these days? And that poor gargoyle. You should be ashamed of yourself!"

  I grinned unabashedly and sent another mental nudge at my seat. Slowly, the stone salamander rose into an upright position. Blankets spilled everywhere as it nudged me to stand up and stretch. I leaned over the parapet, looking down on the courtyard of my flying castle and smirked down. "You're just jealous that you didn't come up with it first. I’ve seen you standing up here on your own feet, like a peasant." I jumped into the menu for Shrike, the salamander-shaped gargoyle and set it to its default setting, watching it slowly lumber back to its usual defensive position on the castle wall.

  Darya, my stalwart half-orc companion, shook her head up at me in mock exasperation.

  My heart skipped a beat as I looked down on her. She had been sparring with Lyle, practicing her spear skills again and was breathing hard. One of her myriad of braids had escaped her ponytail and my fingers itched to brush it back over her ear. I still couldn't believe that she had stayed with me, even after I told her of the crime I'd committed.

  "Anything on the horizon, my liege lord?" Lyle's subservient words were betrayed by the broad grin beaming from under his unruly blond curls. He was resting his arms on his huge shield, and, as opposed to Darya, looked like he hadn't been working at all. Heh. Her Strength and Endurance attributes might almost be as high as Lyle's, but his skills were on another level entirely. He was making her work for it.

  I called down. "Nah. Saw another one of those watchtower Shards from the Republic earlier, but it buzzed off on a westerly course. Nothing interesting. Good news is I’ve been able to practice my spells uninterrupted."

  Darya prodded her biceps with a finger and flinched. "All right. Tell me if you want me to take over for a bit. I thought close combat was going to get easier with time, but it really isn't. My bruises have bruises!"

  "Well... I was hoping to talk Lyle into taking over your shift. I have been tinkering around with a new creation, and I would like to show it to you."

  "Oh really now? Tinkering, you say? I do enjoy it when you... tinker." Her raised eyebrow betrayed her amusement.

  Lyle groaned. "I'll do it! Anything to not have to listen to you guys flirting all the damn time! Seriously, we need to get some more people up here. At least back in Grant's Crossing, we had girls around."

  "Sorry, Lyle. I'll try to tone it down." I said. "Are you up for swapping now? I have one chore I wanted to handle in the chapel, being a responsible, well-adjusted adult, if you'll keep me company, Darya?" I sent the command for Shrike to go back into deck chair mode.

  "Sure. I'll dip my head first. You go ahead"

  Lyle was still chuckling as he took my place on my lizard-chair. "Responsible, well-adjusted... I can't even..."

  On my way to the chapel, I spent a moment checking in with Atlas. My pony-sized chameleon companion was fast asleep. It was no surprise. He insisted that the top of the castle tower was the perfect place for naps, and so far, he was adamant about proving his point. Not that I minded at all. My guard duties allowed me the time to have fun and experiment with spells and immerse myself in other distractions.

  The past week had passed by wonderfully. Leaving the Cabalist behind had proved to be the wise choice. The freakish mage with chains for limbs had definitely not been unhurt, but he'd been alive. And since we had not been the subject of a full-scale Shard hunt from the soldiers of the Rothian Republic, I took that as a sign of approval. Partial clemency, at least.

  The first handful of days, we had been skittish and nervous, changing direction every time we spotted a Shard in the distance to avoid the worst risks of detection. That effectively left us unable to continue in a single direction, since the Shards of the Republic seemed to be pretty much everywhere the moment you left the Dawnlight Forest. Still, after a near dozen distant encounters, we had sat down for a powwow yesterday and decided that we were safe enough to move along as we'd agreed.

  So, this very moment, we were aiming due north, course set for the Terradian Reaches en route to the dwarven mountains. Lyle was really enthusiastic about finding a place where he could learn more about crafting magical armor and, well, none of us disagreed in the least. Having our tank kitted out with magical, rune-inscribed armor, would be an excellent addition. Besides, after Lyle had joined with the Order of the Relentless, a knightly order thriving on defying pain and constant adversity, I felt pretty guilty and found it hard to deny him anything.

  Right this moment, however, guilt was not on my mind. Anticipation was. I'd promised myself I would allow myself the pleasure of diving in and spending my points in the Castle menus, when we'd selected a final course - and now it was time.

  [Berekson Castle

  Current state:

  Total castle durability: 31,800/100,000.

  - Expand for details]

  Defensive capabilities: Low

  [Defensive menu]

  Crafting options: Low

  [Crafting menu]

  Housing options: Medium

  [Housing menu]

  Navigation options. Low

  [Navigation menu]

  I nodded appreciatively to see the durability. Behind me, a muffled sound announced Darya's arrival, and I shared the screen with her immediately. "Look. That repair work you and Lyle have performed around the castle has done wonders for the durability already."

  She made an approving sound. "We just wanted to make sure the buildings didn’t collapse on us. Oh. Are we looking into
the menus?"

  "Yeah. And, if possible, we're upgrading."

  I focused on the castle, selected [expand for details] and watched the overview appear in front of me.

  [Castle walls:

  Durability: 52 percent

  Courtyard:

  Durability: 67 percent

  Gate:

  Durability: 9 percent

  Fortress:

  Durability: 72 percent

  Fortress tower:

  Durability: 70 percent]

  I rubbed my hands together. No grayed out options. No tantalizing choices that were dangling right out of my reach. Instead, each of the sections in the overview had three lovely buttons. [Repair], [Upgrade] and [Salvage]. No surprise about the state of the gate. It only had a single section of stone standing upright. The wooden gate itself was long gone, leaving only the portcullis as a twisted mess of rusted metal among fallen stone blocks. Experimentally, I pressed [Repair] on the gate to see what would happen.

  [Repair gate.

  Cost:

  Wood: Units: 0/6

  Stone: Units: 4/40

  Metal: Units: 1/4

  Castle points: 6550/2700]

  Darya came with a frustrated huff. "Units? How much is a unit? Anyway, that's no good. We are going to need a ton of materials to get that done. Try "salvage."

  I selected Salvage on the Gate.

  [Available units:

  Stone: 4

  Metal: 1

  Salvage: Yes/no?]

  Darya grinned at me. "So, we can take apart any of our constructions in order to create something else if need be. Practical." The grin turned into a frown. "What about those castle points, then?"

  After a while of messing around, I found the explanation. "Hahaaaa. They're experience points. The castle gains bloody experience points for all the battles we have on its grounds. See? That's 2800 for the battle with those nasty Flitters? And then 3500 from that fight with the mobsters. And what do you know? New creations and additions to the castle add points too. Morris the moose's enclosure, as well as the newly established vegetable garden, have given us 250 more points to play with."